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A coalition of Hollywood’s below-the-line unions rallied Sunday on the eve of their latest contract negotiations. They threatened a historic strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers if their demands weren’t met. Such a work stoppage would follow a pair of strikes in 2023 by industry writers and actors that crippled the entertainment industry and have left it limping into the new year.

“I hope they’re paying attention right down the road at the AMPTP,” IATSE vp Michael Miller announced from the stage to the crowd of around 1,000 people at Woodley Park in Encino. (Nearly 1,000 more watched a livestream online.) He then invoked a slogan repeated throughout the event: “Nothing moves without the crew.”

For the first time since 1988, the Hollywood Basic Crafts group — which includes Teamsters Local 399, Ibew Local 40, LiUNA! Local 724, Opcmia Local 755 and UA Local 78 — and the crew union IATSE are joining this...

A bill that would make striking workers in California eligible to receive up to $450 a week in unemployment insurance benefits passed in the state Senate on Thursday by a vote of 27-12. Senate Bill 799, which passed in the state Assembly last month, now heads to the desk of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who can either sign it into law or veto it.

His signature, however, is by no means certain. Last year, he vetoed 169 bills while signing nearly 1,000. In 2019, a similar bill failed in the Senate by just two votes.

Striking workers in New York and New Jersey are entitled to collect unemployment benefits after two weeks on the picket line, but those in California currently aren’t eligible because they’re considered to have left their jobs “voluntarily.”

Senate Bill 799 would change that. It has received support from numerous unions and labor organizations across the state, including the Writers Guild,...

As the SAG-AFTRA strike clocked its 62nd day, and the WGA’s 135th, the former held a massive solidarity march today from Netflix HQ on Van Ness Blvd to the Melrose gates of Paramount to juice guilds’ spirits with the entertainment industry work stoppage running past Labor Day.

Or as California Federation of Labor Executive Secretary Treasurer Lorena Gonzalez told those guild members who showed up today, “This is an endless union summer.”

“We are not giving up because it’s September, we will not give up in October, we will not give up when the temperature goes down,” said Gonzalez to the crowd of around 4,000.

Attendees included SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, Secretary-Treasurer Joely Fisher, Los Angeles Local President Jodi Long, Los Angeles Local First Vice President Sheryl Lee Ralph, as well as such stars as Marvel thespian Clark Gregg, Frances Fisher,...

SAG-AFTRA held a massive march and rally outside the Paramount studio on Wednesday, as the union marked 62 days on strike.

Union leaders argued that the strike has resonated across industries, as workers stand up to “unchecked corporate greed.”

“What’s at stake is bigger than just the entertainment industry,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s executive director. “It’s about the livelihoods of everyone who needs a job to earn a living.”

He urged actors to use their voices and authenticity to speak for the broader labor movement.

“This is your time,” he said.

Lorena Gonzalez, the executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation, said that the union’s push to regulate artificial intelligence is relevant to other industries. She cited efforts to replace big-rig drivers and Ralphs checkout workers with robots.

“AI is not just an actor issue. It’s not just a writer issue,” Gonzalez said. “The threat...

A select group of films has qualified for Academy Award consideration after winning prizes at the 27th LA Shorts Film Festival, the longest-running shorts festival in the movie capital.

Nowhere, directed by L.A.-based filmmaker Gavin Hovannisian, won the Best of Fest Award at a ceremony Sunday night. In the 11-minute narrative short, set in the fictional city of Nowhere, the protagonists are shadows that “dream of a life without their human masters.”

Also qualifying for Oscar consideration was It Takes a Village…, winner of Best International Film. Director Ophelia Harutyunyan’s drama “tells the story of Mariam, who lives in an Armenian Village where there are no men. On her birthday, her hopes of a reunited family are shattered, when she must put aside her own crushed dreams and help her friend Anush as she embarks into motherhood.”

Both Nowhere and It Takes a Village… are Armenian films.